A novel resource-service mutualism between bats and pitcher plants
A novel resource-service mutualism between bats and pitcher plants
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DOI：
10.1098/rsbl.2010.1141
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发表时间：
2011-06-23
期刊：
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Schoener, Michael G.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Grafe, T. Ulmar;Schoener, Caroline R.;Schoener, Michael G.
除了花粉和种子传播综合征之外，脊椎动物和植物之间的互利关系是罕见的。乍一看，猪笼草属的食肉猪笼草似乎不太可能与动物互利互动，因为它们形成了捕获节肢动物和小型脊椎动物的二型陆地和空中猪笼草。然而，令人惊讶的是，长形猪笼草的空中捕虫笼是差的昆虫陷阱，具有低量的昆虫吸引挥发性化合物和低量的消化液。在这里，我们表明，N。据估计，rafflesiana elongata从只栖息在其空中投手中的哈德威克毛蝠（Kerivoula hardwickii hardwickii）的粪便中获得了叶氮总量的33.8%。这是第一个在吸引蝙蝠的猪笼草中记录到粪便陷阱综合征的案例，也是迄今为止第二个食肉植物和哺乳动物之间互利共生的案例。
Mutualistic relationships between vertebrates and plants apart from the pollen and seed-dispersal syndromes are rare. At first view, carnivorous pitcher plants of the genus Nepenthes seem to be highly unlikely candidates for mutualistic interactions with animals, as they form dimorphic terrestrial and aerial pitchers that trap arthropods and small vertebrates. Surprisingly, however, the aerial pitchers of Nepenthes rafflesiana variety elongata are poor insect traps, with low amounts of insect-attractive volatile compounds and low amounts of digestive fluid. Here, we show that N. rafflesiana elongata gains an estimated 33.8 per cent of the total foliar nitrogen from the faeces of Hardwicke's woolly bats (Kerivoula hardwickii hardwickii) that exclusively roost in its aerial pitchers. This is the first case in which the faeces-trapping syndrome has been documented in a pitcher plant that attracts bats and only the second case of a mutualistic association between a carnivorous plant and a mammal to date.